Strongest Guild
by SirSquiirtle
Summary: The real Strongest Guild Instead of rejecting Klein in the Town of Beginnings, he instead takes him and his Motley Crew with him, and the world follows a differnt path. Characters like Klein, Silica and Lizbeth get a bigger roll. AU, KiritoXAsuna, Guild-Leader Kirito
1. Chapter 1

SAO

_Fuurinkazan_

_A/N _

_Hello, welcome to my humble abode, this is obviously an Au fic, with what would happen if a differently acting Kirito would have accepted the request Klein made him to let him take his friends to the village after the_ _starting city._

_Any mistakes made regarding to bosses, and some other minor details are purely intentional, as I have done a good deal of research…_

_Disclaimer:_

_I do not own Sword Art Online it is owned by _Reki Kawahara

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."- Colin Powell

As Kirito ran through the streets, he still felt the deep sense of wonder that accompanied being in this world, as this was more than a game Kirito decided with finality.

"Hey, you there!"

Yelled someone from behind Kirito, as he stopped and turned a red headed man with a gold and red head band, 'Gryffindor?' Kirito thought, came running towards him.

"Me?" Kirito asked with a raised brow

"You move like you've been here before," the man said as he gasped for air, "You were in the beta test, right?" The man asked

"Y-yeah." Kirito said slightly interested now

"Today's my first day," the man explained, "Show me the basics, okay?" clasping a hand onto Kirito's shoulder.

"Uh…" Kirito said

"I'm begging you!" he shouted "My name's Klein. Nice to meet you."

Kirito smirked, finding the brashness of Klein amusing

"I'm Kirito." He said confidently

"So, will you teach me?" Klein asked

"Yeah sure why not." Kirito shrugged,

"So where are we headed?"

"The plains just outside of the city," Kirito said with a shrug, "It's the easiest area in the game."

"Oh ok, then let's go!" Klein yelled and rushed ahead leaving a slightly bemused Kirito to catch up.

-0-

Klein was knocked back by the Blue boar, which snorted as it started to move away, "Right in the crotch…"he wheezed

"Give me a break," Kirito said with a roll of his eyes, "You don't feel any pain, right?"

Klein's eyes widened,

"Oh yeah." He said "Just a habit, I guess" Klein Smiled

"I told you, what's important is the initial motion input." Kirito said patiently

"Sure, I get that…" Klein said, "But he keeps moving around"

"If you do the motion input right, and activate a sword skill" with that Kirito hurled the pebble that was now glowing a brilliant shade of pink, it shot through the air and impacted on the boars backside with a crack,

"The system will ensure that the technique connects," Kirito finished with a smile

"Motion input… motion input…" Kline murmured

"How should I put it?" Kirito asked himself neatly sidestepping the boar's charge and blocking it's second with the flat of his blade,

"Add a slight pause, and when you feel the skill begin to activate, let it explode."

"Explode?" Klein said thoughtfully then with a sudden moment off clarity Klein moved his feet and settled into a new stance, he raised his sword and smiled as it began to glow. Kirito nodded and thrust forward knocking the boar back, and with a sharp kick into its side sent it towards Klein, as the beast ran at Klein, who let out a roar and flew towards it activating a sword skill. Klein's sword left a deep furrow in the side of the boar which tottered for a moment before exploding into numerous blue polygons, a small window appeared notifying Klein of his success and reward, "All right!" Klein yelled getting into a victorious pose.

"Congrats." Kirito smiled hi-fiving Klein, "However," he continued flicking his sword and arcing it into its sheath, "The boar's about as weak as slimes in other games."

"Seriously?" Klein said "I thought it was a mid-level boss or something."

"Of course not," Kirito said looking over at a hill and watching a few more of the mobs appearing Kirito looked at Klein who was activating a sword skill,

"Pretty exciting, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Klein responded enthusiastically "There are lots of skills, right?" Klein asked thoughtfully as he practised attacking with his sword, "Like blacksmithing and stuff?"

"Yeah, I've heard there are an unlimited number of skills. However, there's no magic,"

"An RPG without magic?" Klein smirked activating his sword skill again "That's a pretty bold decision." Klein squealed as he saw the skill discharge causing a flash of red lightning.

"Isn't it fun to move your body as you fight?" Kirito asked with a smile,

"You're right!" Klein exclaimed

"Okay, lets head to the next one,"

"Yeah let's keep going!" Klein said with an evil look at the next boar.

-0-

The sun had already sunk lower bathing the land of Aincrad in a soft orange light, and several dragon type creatures flew through the sky. As Klein surveyed his surroundings he sighed,

"I still can't believe it no matter how many times I see it… That we're in a game, whoever made it is a genius, it's really amazing… Seriously, I'm glad I was born in this time."

"You make a big deal out of everything." Kirito smiled though he agreed with the red headed man,

"It's my first full dive!" Klein protested,

"Then is it your first time playing a game with NerveGear?" Kirito asked as he stared out over the water beneath the cliff they were sitting on

"I rushed out a bought the hardware to play SAO" Klein said with a nod "I was really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies. But, you were ten times more lucky, getting into the Beta test, only a thousand people got to do it." Kirito broke his vigil of the water and turned to Klein,

"I guess so." Kirito rubbed the back of his head

"How far did you get in the beta?" Klein smiled

"Over a couple of months, only to floor 8. Though this time, it'll only take a month." Kirito said vigorously

"You're really into this." Klein noted

"To be honest, during the Beta test," Kirito said drawing his sword, "SAO was all I thought about, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go." Kirito said passionately, "It's a virtual world, but I still feel more alive here than I do in the real one." He smiled and sheathed his sword

"Now then want to go hunt some more?"

"Of course! I'd love to" Klein said enthusiastically "But I'm really hungry…" He said with a wry smile "I'm logging out"

"Eating food here only makes you think you're not hungry." Kirito nodded

"I already ordered a hot pizza for five- thirty." Klein said triumphantly

"You're prepared." Kirito said starting to feel vaguely hungry himself.

"Yup. Well once I've eaten, I'll be back. Klein said happily

"I see." Kirito said

"Hey, after this, I'm meeting up with some other people I know from another game. Want to friend them too?" Klein asked with a grin, Kirito's face fell "Of course if you don't want to, that's okay." Klein said waving his hand dismissively "I'll introduce you another time,"

"Yeah, sorry… Thanks" Kirito said mentally kicking himself for probably ruining any possible friend ship,

"Hey, that's my line." Klein grinned "I'll repay you some time… Mentally," he said clasping Kirito's shoulder again "Thanks so much man, I'll see you around." Klein said reaching out his hand for a shake,

"If there's anything you want to know, just tell me." Kirito replied, shaking Klein's hand,

"Yeah I'll do that." Klein promised, with a wave he turned round and opened his menu,

"Huh?" Klein said "There's no button to log out."

"Look closer." Kirito said rolling his eyes,

"No, it's not there."

"At the bottom of the main menu…" Kirito suggested opening his own menu and narrowing his eyes when he realised Klein was right,

"See not there." Klein said,

"No it isn't." Agreed Kirito

"Well, it's the first day out of beta, Klein said forcing joviality into his voice, "There are bound to be some bugs. I'm sure the server people are freaking out…" Klein said weakly,

"In a second you will be too," Kirito said with a smile "It's five- twenty five." Klein's face went slack, "My Teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale!" Klein yelled clutching his head,

"Just hurry and call the game master." Kirito said exasperatedly,

"I tried, but nothing's happening." Klein said changing into a neutral expression so fast it made Kirito blink,

"Is there any other way to log out?" Klein asked, Kirito thought for a second,

"No, if a player wants to log themselves out, they have to go through the menu."

"That's nuts, there's gotta be some way," he paused for a second, "Return, Log out, Escape!" Klein shouted jumping into various poses, as the clouds drifted over the sun, it seemed to reflect the darkening mood,

"I told you… There wasn't an emergency logout button in the manual either." Kirito said grimly

"You're kidding right?" Klein said a hint of panic creeping into his voice, "I know I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head…" as he made motions that looked like he was trying to take off an invisible hat,

"You can't." Kirito said "We can't move our real bodies. The NerveGear intercepts anything we tell our bodies to do here," Kirito said pointing to his head as a trickle of perspiration rolled slowly down his face.

"Seriously?" Klein asked the worry now clearly written on his face, "So, we have to wait for them to fix the bug?"

"Or for someone in the real world to remove the NerveGear from us." Kirito told him, noticing a Boar walk slowly passed, but the cheerful hunting they did less than ten minutes ago seemed like a distant memory.

"But I live alone." Protested Klein, "What about you?" Kirito debated for a second about lying but saw no point,

"I have a Mom and a sister, so I think they'll notice by dinnertime…" Suddenly Klein lurched forward,

"H-How old's your little sister?" Klein demanded a grin on his face,

"She's on a sports team, and she hates games, she has nothing to do with people like us."

"That doesn't ma-" Klein started, as Kirito kneed him in the balls, Kirito realised what Klein was trying to do, lighten the, atmosphere that had passed over them, once again Klein went to clutch has balls, before realising that he was in no pain, "Right it doesn't hurt." Klein noted again,

"More importantly," Kirito said trying to break focus back to the fact that they were stuck in a videogame, "Don't you find this weird?" Kirito asked,

"Sure I do." Klein said raising a brow "It's a bug."

"It isn't just a bug." Kirito growled "If we can't log out, that'll pose a serious problem for the game's future."

"Come to think of it, you're right." Klein said thoughtfully

"If they wanted to, they could just shut down the server and log everyone out. But there isn't even an announcement…" Kirito finished, Klein nodded, and they both froze when an ominous sounding bell started ringing, then the world slowly blurred out. A forced teleport realised Kirito, it had happened to him a few times when he got stuck in the scenery during the beta test. Kirito and Klein gazed around at the slowly filling plaza, as more and more players were teleported,

"What's going on, a youngish looking girl said as she clutched the arm of a taller male,

"I don't know," Said male said,

"A forced teleport?" murmured Kirito, as the bell stopped ringing the hole plaza went silent, waiting for something, anything to happen

"Up there." Everyone looked up and saw a crimson Hexagon appear in the sky

"That's…" Kirito began as the hexagons spread rapidly across the sky, once the whole space above the starting city had been filled a thick viscous liquid dripped from the sky, looking, a bit too much like blood for Kirito's liking. However the stream then worsened into a torrent until a huge man shaped figure appeared, garbed in a game master's robe. However, the figure in the robe had no face, and the lining in the hood could be seen,

"What is that?" Klein muttered to himself

"A game master?" someone in the crowd muttered

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is this an event?" as the murmur of voices increased

"I'm scared," the girl from earlier said holding onto the man's arm tighter than before,

"It's fine," He responded reassuringly "It's just part of the opening ceremony."

"Attention players," The robe said with a calm voice "welcome to my world."

"My world?" Kirito said questioningly

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment I am the sole person who can control this world."

"Is that really him?" A person in the crowd asked

"He must have spent a lot of time on this."

"I'm sure you've already noticed, but the logout button is missing from the main menu," to punctuate his point he opened his own menu and scrolled down to the empty logout space, Kirito filed that away for later.

"But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat; this is not a fault in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

"A-A Feature?" Klein said incredulously

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted…" Kayaba paused ominously "The transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

"What?"

"Come on enough already."

"Let's go." The male from earlier said taking the pink garbed girl with him. However as he attempted to leave the plaza he hit an invisible barrier face first.

"Hey I can't get out!" The man yelled

"What's he talking about?" Klein said seriously, completely ignoring the man who was now rubbing his face, "He's gotta be nuts." Klein paused, "Right Kirito?" He said,

"He's right, the transmitters signals work just like microwaves… If the safety were disabled it could fry a brain." Kirito mused

"Then if we cut the power…" Klein suggested, Kirito gave Klein a grim smile,

"No the NerveGear has an internal battery."

"But this is crazy." Klein said shaking his head like he was trying to wake up from a nightmare, which Kirito supposed it kind of was,

"What's going on?!" Klein yelled

"Unfortunately, several player's friends and families, have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world." Kayaba said emotionlessly,

"Two hundred and thirteen?" Kirito said, eyes widening

"I don't believe it…" Klein said stunned, "I don't believe it!" He shouted

"As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game." At this Kirito gritted his teeth and glared at Kayaba glaring at him, "But I want you to remember this clearly." He continued ignoring all of the looks he was getting from the crowd,

"There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If you HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain." He warned as the news screens that were flashing around him snapped shut, Kirito gave a sharp intake of breath as he realised exactly what that fact meant, it meant that if he was careless, or sloppy, he could be killed, his fists tightened, as everyone stared up at him shocked,

"There is only one means of escape." Kayaba paused briefly and then delivered the punch line, "To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor one, if you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the floor boss on floor one hundred, and you will clear the game."

"Clear?" Was his response from the crowd

"What's he talking about?"

"Y-You're just making that up!" Yelled the man he took a force field to the face,

"Clear all hundred floors?" Klein mused "That's impossible." He said to himself, he then looked up sharply thinking of what Kirito had told him and yelled at Kayaba, "The beta testers never made it anywhere near that high!"

"Finally." Kayaba ignored him, "I've added a present from me to your item storage, please see for yourselves." With a puzzled look Kirito swiped open the menu, and saw an item stated as Mirror,

"Mirror?" Kirito frowned he didn't recognize it, so he sighed and selected it, after a second a plain steel mirror dropped into his hand, he gazed into it, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a glow similar to a teleport, soon more and more players were engulfed by the blue light, The light then surrounded Kirito, after a moment, he could see again, but instead have being warped to the light world, he was in the same place, but everyone looked different to before,

"You okay Kirito?" Klein said from behind him

"Y-yeah…" Kirito said still a little dizzy from whatever that was, he looked over at Klein and saw, someone else, they still looked a lot like Klein, but he had a slightly more hooked nose and a small workings of a beard,

"Who are you?" Kirito asked

"And who are you?" Klein asked, with a frown Kirito looked in the mirror and saw a face he was never expecting in a million years to be in SAO, his own, he gasped, and the people around him were having similar reactions,

"You're a guy?" The once tall man, now dumpy teenager said horrified,

"You were lying about being seventeen?" the once small girl turned bony male said.

"Which means…?" Kirito said, "You're Klein?"

"You're Kirito?" Klein and Kirito said at the same time,

"How?" Klein asked dumbfounded

"That scan…" He said remembering putting on the NerveGear earlier, "The NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density signalling device. So it can see what your face looks like. But our height and body shape?" Kirito said with a frown,

"When we first used the NerveGear, it had us calibrate it, right? You had to touch your body all over."

"O-Oh, right… That must be where it got the data."

"But… But…" Klein began, "Why? Why do all this, anyway?"

"I'm sure he'll tell us." Kirito said with a frown and pointed at Kayaba.

As if answering to Kirito, Kayaba started talking again "Right now, you're probably wandering, 'Why'", why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online, do all this? My goal has already been achieved," He said sounding a lot like a Bond villain, "I created Sword Art Online for one reason… To create this world and intervene in it."

Well someone's got a God complex Kirito thought to himself, "Kayaba…" He said

"And it is now complete." Kayaba said, "This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck players." And with that Kayaba started to fade into smoke and pixels. For a minute silence reigned. Kirito to stayed silent, feeling or perhaps imagining his paper cut appearing he was not sure himself anymore,

"This is real…" he muttered clenching his fist. The genius who created the NerveGear, and a completely virtual space, Kayaba Akihiko, I admired him, so I can tell… Everything he just said is true. If I die in the game, I will die in real life! Kirito thought to himself, at that moment a mirror was dropped,

"No!" Screamed a young girl bumping into the player beside her at this moment it was shown that, that long moment of silence was just the calm before the storm,

"Let me out! Let me out of here!" Screamed the crowd, suddenly the force field dropped, Kirito narrowed his eyes and grabbed Klein,

"Come with me" he hissed pulling Klein along,

"Listen to me." Kirito said seriously to Klein as they finally stopped in an alley on the outskirts of town, "I'm heading to the next village, right now. Come with me." If what he said is true," Kirito said opening his menu "The only way to survive in this world is by making yourself as strong as possible. The resources within a virtual MMORPG, in other words, the money and EXP we can earn, are limited. The fields surrounding the Town of beginnings will soon be hunted clean." Kirito showed Klein the path on his map,

"To do this efficiently, we should head to the next village now, I know all of the paths and dangerous areas. Even at level 1, I can get us there safely." Kirito said,

"But… But you know… I spent a whole night in line with me friends from the other game. They're out there in the plaza, I can't just leave them.

If it were just Klein… Kirito thought. But more…

"Sorry. I can hardly ask you for anything else, can I? So don't worry about it, Go to the next village, I used to run a guild in my last game. I can use what you taught me to get by!" Klein said with a grin, Kirito screwed up his eyes, thinking of the pros and cons, on the bad side, protecting and leading a group may be difficult and there was a chance that blood could be on his hands. However, Klein had learnt bloody fast and was at a decent level, probably better than Kirito had beam at the point in the beta, and if his friends were as good, also company and someone to watch his back would be brilliant, I'm going to regret this…

"Klein," Kirito growled. "You have five minutes to get your friend meet me in the field. Don't be late." Kirito warned walking away leaving a dumbstruck Klein.

-0-

Five minutes later, Klein and his friends were standing in front of Kirito,

"All right introductions," Klein said happily "Guys meet Kirito, the beta tester who showed me the ropes, Kirito meet Dale," he said pointing at a large man, with a rounded stomach, who nodded and gave a friendly smile,

"Kunimittz" Klein said pointing at a tall man with black hair, who shook his hand to shake it, Kirito took it and nodded,

"Dynamm" Klein said pointing at a mischievous looking man with stubble,

"Issin" A medium sized man with pointy brown hair,

"Harry One" Klein said with a roll of his eyes indicating a shorter man in his twenty's,

"So shall we be off?" Klein asked Kirito,

"Yeah First place I want to go is Horunka Village, there is a quest I need to do to make sure I'm ready for this little jaunt."

A/N

If you're still here by the end I'm a banana, no but seriously thanks, for reading, as you can tell if you've watched SAO, a LOT of dialog was copied directly, if not all, but as you could probably tell, we got some Au-ness at the end, so hopefully that's enough to convince you that I'm writing a FanFiction and not just plagiarizing a brilliant Anime/Light novel/ Manga.

But I hope for reviews and plenty of constructive criticism.

SirSquirtle Signing off.


	2. Chapter 2

SAO

Fuurinkazan

Chapter 2

A/N

Hello people, if you are reading this hello again, I am still a banana, so I really can't tell if you are reading this…

But seriously, hopefully I'm really going to be starting the Au-ness properly here, so on with the show.

Disclaimer: Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara

Kirito was ashamed to be happy about his decision, his earlier annoyance at bringing the other players with him actually seemed to have paid off as with the help of the group that were with him. The low level monsters that inhabited that floor stood no chance against their combined might.

"So where are we going exactly?" Dale asked with a weary expression on his face, they had been walking for a good three hours by now, so Kirito turned to him.

"We're going to a town called Horunka, the reason why we are going there is because I know of a quest that I need to complete, and it also has a shop. The place itself is just up this hill." Kirito said patiently, now having explained to each of the Fuurinkazan by now. He supposed that bringing Klein's friends along had been a good choice, they had been telling him funny stories about Klein and generally talking. Kirito not being much of a social guy took a while to really start talking but he supposed it was fun when he did. However, a big and obvious down side to partying with Klein and Co was the big hit on his EXP gain from killing monsters, as they were in a party they gained quite a lot of EXP from killing the various enemies in their way, but Kirito had a feeling that playing solo may be better for everyone. However, he quickly squashed that thought for now and crested the hill that they were walking up and saw Horunka Village. As he remembered, it was nowhere near the size of the Town of Beginnings, since that had been built to accommodate all ten thousand players. In fact Horunka had the grand total of ten buildings. Kirito suggested that Klein and the others go to the weapon shop and then take the rest of the night off. After friending everyone in return for them taking the night off, (Kirito was still not sure how that worked,) he headed for the shop, after purchasing a leather coat for the decent defence boost. Kirito headed for the two story building that contained the quest 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' as he entered the first sign that the quest was still were it was in the beta was the sense of sickly-ness that hung in the air. Soon an NPC woman that Kirito had previously nicknamed Missus walked up to Kirito.

"Good evening journeying swordsman. You must be tired, I do wish to offer you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give is a single cup of water or so." The Woman said wearily, without missing a beat Kirito answered with clear enunciation, so the system would recognise his words.

"That will be fine." Kirito said, really he could have just agreed, but he played along, the NPC woman poured Kirito a cup of water, and placed it on the table. Kirito nodded and sat down, and quickly downed the water. With a small smile the NPC woman turned back to the pot and began stirring it.

When Kirito had first been here he had been confused about the woman saying there was no food while the cauldron was bubbling away above the fire, but Kirito now knew that there was medicine from the local village in it. After waiting a small cough could be heard in the next room, and the woman's shoulders had deflated in despair, a few seconds later a glowing gold question mark appeared above her head. The sign of the quest's activation, pausing for a moment he checked how he word his next question.

"Is something troubling you?" He asked the NPC, Kirito knew that, that was one of the money possible phrases, of those that could be used to accept quests. However, that was the one he was the most comfortable with, slowly the woman turning to face Kirito the question mark pulsed slowly.

"Actually, journeying swordsman, my daughter…"

Kirito allowed himself to tune out since he already knew all this: Her daughter was affected by a terrible illness that was completely unaffected by the medicine form the market. (The contents of the pot.) And there was no other way to cure her daughter aside from making her drink medicine procured from the ovules of predatory plants inhabiting the western part of the forest. The problem being that plants of that particular type were extremely dangerous and on top of that those which actually bloomed were rarely seen resulting in her complete inability to obtain any. Hence if a swordsman were able to fetch it in her stead, she would gladly offer a long sword that had been handed down her family as an expression of gratitude.

That had been the general gist of her speech, Kirito had to hand it to Kayaba's team, they could really create a quest to get you behind. However, even though Kirito already knew her speech, the quest would not progress if he had not heard it do the end. What made the story worse were the dry coughs her daughter made all the way through the story. Once the woman had finished Kirito stood and nodded at the woman and rushed out of the house.

-0-

As Kirito walked deeper into the forest having already killed several Nepents he heard a stiff clapping sound, he turned around, slightly startled by the noise, he unsheathed his sword.

"Hey." The person said stepping into the dying sunlight, revealing his serious features. However, instead of being an NPC, like Kirito expected it was another player.

"S-Sorry for startling you like that. I should have called out from the start" the boy said.

"…No me too… Sorry for the overreaction."

The boy, whose features gave off a first impression of seriousness, widened his faltering smile, and made some sort of gesture, bringing the fingers of his right hand up to around his right eye. He then quickly lowered his hand in embarrassment immediately after. He defiantly wore glasses in the real world Kirito decided.

"Congrats on your level up earlier. That was pretty quick."

"It's not that fast… -And if you are going to say that, you're fast too. I thought it would be two or free more hours or more before anyone would reach this forest."

"I thought I would be the first to arrive too. The path here is rather confusing after all." The boy laughed, the instant he said this, Kirito realised something, they were the same in one crucial aspect, they were both Beta testers, and like Kirito he must have gone through endless attempts of trial and error, to amass a trove of knowledge and experience. The small paths and ways of escape not shown on the map. The locations of Towns and Villages, the stock shops keep. The price and specifications of the stock sold there. The activation requirements of quests and how to clear them. The spawn areas of monsters, their powers, and also their weaknesses-

It was due to the information that he, Klein and the others had gotten to this point alive, if he was a complete newbie Kirito was sure he would still be in the starting city. The same could be said for the boy to Kirito's front, there was no doubt the one-handed swordsman with hair slightly longer than his had been through the experience of the beta test just like him. Not just how he knew the best place to farm the Nepents, but even the way he stood, it showed a familiarity with the original VR engine used by SAO. This guess was soon supported by the boy's next question.

"You're doing it too, right? The 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' quest." He asked seeing no more reason to hesitate, Kirito nodded.

"Yeah I am." He said, as Kirito said this, the boy grinned and adjusted the phantom glasses.

"It is an indispensable quest to one-handed sword users after all. When you get the 'Anneal Blade' reward it's good all the way up to the third floors labyrinth." He said with a nod

"The appearance isn't much to talk about though, that weapon." Kirito joked, the boy then let out a bright laugh, after a short pause the boy looked Kirito dead in the eyes.

"This is a rare chance, so how about working together on the quest?" He asked

"Eh… But I believe this is an individual only quest though." Kirito responded, however the boy gave a smile like he had anticipated Kirito's response.

"Well that may be true, but the rate of a Nepent with a flower will increase if the normal ones are hunted down as much as possible. Pushing that to the extreme, as a pair is much more effective."

Just as Kirito was about to nod he stiffened, wondering if he should be teaming up with someone else while he was with Klein and his friends. However, the boy took Kirito's hesitation the wrong way and quickly added; "No it's fine, you don't have to feel obligated to form a party, you were the first person here so, of course, I'll concede the first item to you. If we continue at the boosted rate, the second will definitely drop soon after, so if you'll stick with me till then."

"Yeah… Sure Kirito said" Nodding his assent, the boy laughed and stepped towards Kirito and offered his hand.

"That's good to hear; well then I'll stick with you for the time being. I'm Coper"

"Watch my back, name's Kirito" He said,

"All right, let's go."

-0-

It had been a good hour since Coper and Kirito had teamed up and both had reached level three, but the end was in sight as a Nepent with a flower attached spawned. The boys both ran at the Nepent with a silent war cry swinging their blades forward. However right before they connected, Kirito restrained Coper with his left hand, Coper shot Kirito a look demanding why, Kirito pointed behind the flowered Nepent at a second one in the tree, after straining his eyes Coper realised what Kirito was pointing at, another Nepent with a circular something above it. However as it stepped closer, Kirito regarded it in horror; hanging from the end of the other Nepent was a spherical ball around twenty centimetres in diameter. It was a fruit, if the fruit was even grazed it would burst releasing noxious fumes that would bring swarms of rampaging Nepents down on top of them far more than either of the two beta players could deal with. However, the longer they waited, the closer the Nepents got to each other. Kirito was at a loss, he thought that there was indeed a possibility of killing the Nepent without touching the fruit. However, it was not definite, so as with the possible outcome of impending death, Kirito decided patience would be the correct outcome. Although, even this was not a good plan, as Kirito had heard a rumour that the flower would quickly mature into a fruit if not obtained quickly.

"Let's go. I'll draw the fruit's attention, you go after the flower, kill it quick." Coper said breaking Kirito out of his thoughts.

"Ok," Kirito agreed, the two boys ran toward their targets, Kirito running at the quest item dropper, and Coper at the Trap.

Even if it is a rare monster with a tiny spawn chance, it's stats, were barely different and so, just like the others, Kirito destroyed it with a blue sword skill and a few follow up slashes. As the beast exploded into polygons, a blue ball fell off it and hit the ground with a soft plop, Kirito bend down and plucked the fist sized orb off the ground. After this I need a break Kirito decided.

"Sorry for the wait!" Kirito shouted to Coper as he approached him, as he did this he dropped the Ovule into his belt pouch and ran several steps forward, for some strange reason a feeling of dread gnawed away at Kirito's stomach, Coper turned to Kirito his eyes narrowed, in distrust, or was it pity. Strongly fending off the Nepent's next attack he looked at Kirito again.

"Sorry Kirito." And with that Coper, delivered a strong slash to the Nepent's fruit causing it to burst.

The Nepent gave a high pitched screech, a sound Kirito had heard once before in the beta test, as he had been killing Nepent's he had cut a fruit, death had followed, the Nepent Coper had slashed exploded into polygons but the damage had been done.

"Wh-Why." Kirito stuttered; he knew this had not been an accident. The beta tester who Kirito had fought beside for a good hour looked at him and shrugged.

"Sorry." He said again, as he said this Nepents appeared from all sides, there must have been a good thirty or forty in total, pausing briefly to send Klein a good bye. Kirito, steeled himself for the inevitable, he hefted his blade. Had Coper finally cracked from the pressure and decided to give up, is that why he had cut the fruit. As this thought ran through Kirito's head, Coper made a break for the thicker trees, did he intend to try and escape? Kirito thought, why now? Kirito's eyes widened as Coper dived into a thicket. His avatar was soon covered, but as Kirito's detection skill was higher than his hiding, Kirito saw his plan, he was hiding, this left a bitter taste in Kirito's mouth, Coper wasn't trying to flee, after a failed suicide attempt, he was trying to have the monster's kill him. Kirito understood; he intended to steal the Ovule. However Kirito felt no anger towards him, only a bitter satisfaction.

"Coper, you didn't know about it did you?!" Kirito yelled, "This must be the first time you took up the hiding skill, it may be useful, but it's not bullet proof, against monsters that rely on senses other than sight, it's useless, monsters such as the Little Nepent!"

After a second of silence the calm broke, ten or so Nepents fell upon the thicket Coper was in. With a scream and a burst of polygons, Coper was dead, feeling a sense of total calm, Kirito ran at the main body of the Nepents. Kirito was slashing and weaving desperately, but his luck quickly ran out as he tripped over an exposed tree root. Kirito closed his eyes, he waited for death, however instead of this he heard the sound of glass breaking, Kirito's eyes opened, and he gazed at the best sight ever, Klein and his friends falling on the Nepents. Since they had the element of surprise they quickly reached Kirito. He looked up and saw a smirking Klein as the group quickly formed a ring around Kirito.

"Come on buddy, don't go I was dying on us." Dale laughed killing another Nepent.

"I take it the quest went badly?" Klein asked Kirito who had now joined the circle of people now fighting slowly through the Nepents.

"Yeah, it did..." Kirito said his eyes cast downward.

"Kirito, I have no idea how, you're feeling right now, buddy, but at the moment you need to pull yourself together, we're all losing health rapidly, so fight now, mope later." Klein said gruffly, while insensitive, the words appeared to strike, a cord within Kirito as he quickly mobilized.

"Kunimittz, Dynamm and Klein, to the front with me form a point, Issin, Harry guard the rear." To Kirito's surprise they moved without question and in that formation, they easily fought the rest of the way to the edge of the Nepents, and made a desperate dash into town, by now it was night time with the moon shining brightly overhead.

"You guys turn into bed, I just need to finish the quest."

"Kirito, are you all right buddy?" Klein asked worriedly

"Yeah, just go to bed." Kirito said tiredly, Klein nodded and walked off towards the inn while Kirito headed towards the quest house. Kirito gave a small smile as he noticed players in the plaza of the village.

"So it begins." He announced dramatically to himself, he then turned down an alleyway into the inner portions of the village. The house that Kirito was headed for was lit by a light flickering in one of the windows. Out of habit Kirito used the door knocker before opening the door, the missus was by the stove stirring it carefully and the little gold exclamation mark floated above her head to denote an active quest. Kirito approached her and took out the spoil that had lost another player his life and nearly cost him his own and handed it to the old woman. The woman's face lit up at the sight and Kirito raised an eyebrow at the realism of it, she babbled words of gratitude as she placed the ovule carefully in the pot and the quest log which hung lightly to the left of Kirito's vision.

With a smile the woman walked over to a large wooden chest on the south side of the room and opened the lid, golden light seemed to pour out and Kirito swore he heard a familiar sound. From inside the woman took a long sword in a red scabbard, the sword while looking slightly worn gave of a feel of so much more potent than the starting gear. She held out the sword still paying Kirito words of gratitude.

"Thanks." Kirito murmured and took the blade, Kirito instantly felt the weight and that familiar balance that had not been present with the small sword he had been using, it was quite a bit heavier, he estimated about one-point five times heavier. That would be good if he was ever forced into PVP he mused, the added weight could be beneficial. However, the thing that made Kirito the happiest was having the sword he had used in the Beta returned to him, it had served him well this Anneal Blade. The quest complete message hovered before his vision and experience points were added to his total, and his level reached four. When Kirito had first received the Anneal Blade in the Beta he had gone hunting Large Nepents, creatures that dwelled deep in the forest to the west. However, he did not really feel up to it, a player had lost his life fighting them monsters, while yes he had betrayed him and nearly cost Kirito his life, but it was still sad that he had to die. So Kirito placed his new weapon in his storage and sat down on one of the nearby chairs with a heavy thud. As the quest had been completed the woman would not even offer him a glass of water Kirito thought to himself with a sigh, then the Woman took a wooden cup and filled it with the contents from the stove then holding the cup with significantly more care then she had held the Anneal Blade. She walked with the cup through a door, without any real reason Kirito got up and walked through the door after her. He was surprised that he could get through, as in the Beta test the door had been locked shut by the system. With a shrug Kirito walked further in, through the door was a small bedroom furnished with a dresser, a bed and a single small chair. Lying on the bed was a small girl who couldn't have been more than seven or eight years of age. Even by the moonlight Kirito could see how pale the girl was, her neck was thin and the shoulders that the sheet failed to cover were bony.

After realising her Mother was in the room the girl opened her eyes slightly, then she noticed Kirito who stood as still as he could, the girls colourless lips formed a faint smile.

The girl's Mother gently reached out and propped the girl up, suddenly the girl was seized by a coughing fit, that shook her violently, Kirito checked above her head half expecting to see a player cursor seeing the realism of the girl, but no she was an NPC as her tag indicated and her name was Agatha.

"Agatha dear, here, the travelling swordsman got some medicine for you from the forest. If you drink this, you'll get better for sure." The woman said kindly, she carefully held out the wooden cup to the girl to take

"…Okay." Agatha said in a cute tone and took the cup in her small hands and gulped it down, a slight tinge of red appeared on Agatha's face and held the empty cup for her Mother to take, after she took it, Agatha turned to face Kirito and gave him small grin.

"Thank you big Brother." She said sweetly, Kirito suddenly remembered another little girl who used to talk to him like that. In the distant past his 'Sister' Suguhu had caught a cold and was forced to stay in bed. His 'Father' was as usual appointed overseas and his 'Mother' was away on a business trip, hence he was in charge of looking after Suguhu for two hours. That was when Kirito had been in Primary school… He couldn't even remember what year he had been in. Honestly Kirito had thought of that task as bothersome, but he didn't leave her alone while he played, he wiped away sweat from her brow and changed the ice pack on her forehead. After he had done that the girl had meekly asked for ginger tea. He had reluctantly called his mother to ask for the recipe. It was only ginger extract and honey dissolver in water a simple process, but to Kirito when he was young and had never done that sort of thing it was a momentous task. So after burning himself with the boiling water several times and grating his fingers on the grater he eventually took the mug to Suguhu's bedside. That little girl who was normally quick with the sarcasm looked at him with a meek face-

Kirito involuntarily groaned, he wanted to get to know Suguhu again, he wanted to heal the divide that had formed between them. Kirito was shocked by the power of the emotions running through him and he stumbled causing himself to have to catch a hold of Agatha's bed to steady himself. He needed to see her again, and the rest of his family. However, at that moment that was impossible due to the electric fields the NerveGear emitted severing his consciousness from the real world and imprisoning him in this god forsaken game.

While holding back the sobs that threatened to spill over Kirito realised just what this world meant, that if he did not get to the top of Aincrad, he would never be able to see them again, hiding his face in the bed sheets, he clenched his teeth tight as his body trembled. However, there were no tears; he didn't even know if he could cry.

"… What's the matter, big Brother?" Agatha asked as a soft palm nervously touched Kirito's head, she gently stroked his hair until he burned out and fell asleep.

A/N

Thanks for reading, that was a difficult chapter to write and I had to borrow heavily from the light novel. However I persevered.

A quick thanks to Stevjej who is the excellent beta-reader for this fic, thanks.

If you are wondering where the next chapter of either From Battlefield to Classroom or Edward Van Hohenheim is, never fear, my schedule shall soon be posted on by bio. Now I bid you adeu.


	3. Chapter 3

SAO

Fuurinkazan

A/N Hello people, to be honest I am shocked, when I posted the first two chapters of this story, I had no idea it was going to be so successful, but I digress, I have to thank, everyone who have followed and favourited this story, and I promise I will pick up the writing speed as this chapter took too long to write.

Reviewer replies-

EquinoxWolf- Thank you for the compliment, and believe me I know writing AU can be risky, I have tried and failed before. And in regard to the noise when the chest was opened being a Zelda reference... It's a secret to everybody.

Guest- I thank you.

Patient 0 Zero- Thank you and it's my Beta you have to thank for the second part.

Sabrina-Luna-Potter- Thank you very much.

Kirito walked quietly into the room he, Klein and the others were sharing, Harry was sat up in bed navigating his inventory, seeing Kirito; he gave him a small smile and a wave before going back to his task. Kirito sighed and collapsed into bed determined to have a least a few hours shuteye before they got back on the road. Although technically in SAO people didn't need food, drink or sleep and people could ignore the feeling if they so chose, the only real side effect being mental fatigue, Kirito preferred to sleep, eat and drink as if he was in the real world as it gave some measure of a daily routine. As those thoughts ran round Kirito's mind, he slowly felt himself slipping into a deep slumber.

"Hey, Kirito!" Klein shouted at the top of his lungs trying to awaken his sleeping friend.

"Klein," Kunimittz interrupted "Kirito's mind so to speak isn't here."

"Gotcha." Klein muttered in agreement, swiping open his menu he opened his friends list and sent a PM to Kirito. After a moment Kirito's eyes twitched and opened them quickly.

"What time is it?" He slurred looking around with bleary eyes

"It's ten O'clock; we thought that it's probably a good time to go." Kunimittz said patiently

"Why didn't you wake me up the normal way?" Kirito asked shooting a half annoyed glare Klein's way.

"Because Kirito, when you go to sleep in SAO your mind is separated from your avatar therefore the only way to wake someone up is to communicate with them directly via the system, or a system interruption." Kunimittz explained

"But I woke up myself after falling asleep in the quest house." Kirito said puzzled

"The other way to wake up is a natural wake up, E.G your body decides that it has had enough sleep."

"Right, but yeah we can set off after breakfast, so what do you guys want to do levelling or head to another town?"

"Uh guys, I've got some bad news." Harry said grimly

"Oh, what's that?" Kirito asked intrigued

"In the "Weekly Argo (A newspaper) there's been something pretty messed up."

"Go on." Klein urged

"Someone jumped off Aincrad to test if you really would die in real life if you died in game."

"What the hell?" Kirito exclaimed

"Well crap." Klein muttered

"Why would someone even take that kind of risk, with these odds." Dale asked incredulously

"Desperation I suppose." Kunimittz said calmly

"What?" Kirito asked sharply

"Some people probably couldn't take the fact that they're trapped in a virtual reality game for the rest of their lives." Kunimittz continued calmly, Kirito winced as he thought of that, how instead of being driven to complete the game and get back to friends and family that way, people were committing suicide.

"Anyway!" Klein shouted trying to lighten the atmosphere "Who wants some breakfast!", and with that Kirito and Co. walked down to the mess hall area of the inn and ordered a small loaf of white bread and water each.

"So what should we do?" Klein asked looking to Kirito, after a moment of contemplation he responded.

"Probably do some levelling and maybe picking up some quests, I want to be a decent level for when the fight the first boss battle happens.

"Yeah I agree, I mean your level four and we're all level three, and it says that the minimum safest level for taking on a boss is the floor number plus ten." Issin said nodding

"Alright we'll do some levelling then." Kirito said firmly

"Well ok then," Klein said smirking "let's go then." He said tossing a final piece of crust of the bread onto the plate causing the crust to shatter into blue polygons.

-0-

_1 Month later…_

It's been a good month Kirito thought to himself, he had got to know Klein and his friends quite well, and together they had trained hard and completed a good few quests while they travelled together. Kirito thought as they walked into Tolbana together they had nearly visited the pleasant town before but put it off as the first floor labyrinth was nearby as well as the strongest enemies on the floor, so Kirito proposed they visit the pleasant town later. Already Tolbana had a large amount of people inhabiting it, as it was effectively the front lines of the game, as they walked through the town Klein spotted an inn that looked a decent quality.

"Kirito, how about we book a room in there and then split up, we can meet up later. Klein suggested

"Yeah that's a decent idea," Kirito agreed "Though you guys can go on ahead it only needs one person to rent a room." Kirito said

"Yeah, I guess so. We'll be off buying supplies, anything of interest in the town?" Klein responded

"There's the player amphitheatre, players make announcements there." Kirito suggested

"Yeah, we'll check it out at some point. Anyway, if I don't bump into you while we're exploring meet up at five in the inn for dinner." Klein said with a nod

"Ok." Kirito agreed, then walking towards the inn he gave a final wave and entered the inn while Klein and the others departed. As Kirito entered the inn he noticed a familiar girl sitting in a chair scrolling through her menu.

"Argo?" Kirito asked as he approached her

"Oh Kirito, it's you." Argo said glancing briefly away from her menu before returning to whatever she was doing.

"Yeah, do you know anything worthwhile?" Kirito asked

"You have a plus six Anneal Blade don't you."

"Err… Yeah." Kirito said puzzled by Argo's sudden question

"You have someone interested in buying it." Argo announced

"Sorry, it's not for sale." Kirito said immediately

"He's offering a relatively large amount of Col, the buyer's name is Kiabaou."

"Still no Argo, please tell him that. Anything else."

"Fine," She said with a melodramatic roll of her eyes "There's a meeting at four PM today about clearing the first floor."

"Oh, know anything else about that?" Kirito asked intrigued

"I do but I've forgotten, twenty Col may jog my memory though." She said with a wink

Muttering about cheapskates Kirito retrieved the required money and handed it to Argo.

"The meetings being held by a player named Diavel; apparently he's found the boss room." She told him

"Interesting, you gonna take part in the fight?" Kirito asked a hint of humour in his voice, she looked at him strangely

"Kirito, I observe from the side-lines, why would I take part in the first boss battle of all things." Argo said deadpan

"You know to get a first-hand account." Kirito suggested

"Are you saying my info isn't reliable?" She asked a hint of danger in her voice

"Err… No?" Kirito said weakly not expecting her attitude to change so fast

"Good, now if there's nothing else I believe you have a room to book." She said primly going back to her menu, with a roll of his eyes at Argo's theatrics Kirito walked away from the girl and to the NPC innkeeper.

"One room for seven." Kirito said

"Of course," The inn keeper said "14 Col, please sir." He said, Kirito nodded and took out he required money, taking the key from the innkeeper he set out of the inn set to re-explore the town, if memory served correct, it was the second largest town on the first floor.

-0-

"Should we go find Kirito?" Klein asked Kunimittz as they walked towards the amphitheatre, that they had been told a meeting was taking place in to organize raiding parties for the boss room.

"Nah, I expect he will have already found out." Kunimittz replied

"Yeah, so we should be able to take down the boss shouldn't we, especially with the Beta testers." Dale said to Klein ignoring the dirty look a passer-by gave him for mentioning the 'B-word'

"Yeah I guess so." Klein said as they arrived at the Amphitheatre, instantly they spotted a blue haired man standing at the centre of the stage getting ready to address the audience, they quickly hurried to some seats next to Kirito who was sitting alone, he gave them a nod and refocused on the blue haired man as said blue haired person cleared his throat.

"Okay, let's get started people!" He announced with a clap of his hands "Thank you for coming today. My name is Diavel," He introduced himself "I like to consider my class 'Knight'." He joked playfully slapping his breast plate

"There's no job system in this game." Someone in the audience called out "You should take this meeting seriously!" He continued, Kirito rolled his eyes at the person; Diavel was obviously trying to set everyone at ease. However, Diavel suddenly became serious, narrowing his eyes slightly

"Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower." He announced solemnly, everyone in the crowd leaned forward slightly

"We need to defeat then boss to reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the town of beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here shares this duty!" Diavel announced to the crowd who with the exception of a few were held spellbound by Diavel's passionate speech "Do you all agree?" Diavel continued, the crowd nodded and slowly applause started to build.

Damn Kirito thought, I hope this has got the best at though because he can sure manipulate a crowd.

"All right. Then let's begin our planning. First divide into parties." Diavel instructed the gathered players.

"Klein." Kirito hissed

"What?" Klein asked puzzled

"Parties can be at most six, we have seven." Kirito said, Klein swore softly under his breath, Kirito casually glanced round to see a girl wearing a dark burgundy cloak reminiscent of the kind Assassins wore in _Assassins creed_, he noticed she was sitting alone.

"Hey, Klein I'm going to see if that girl up there wants to form a party, it looks like she's alone." Kirito said to Klein

"Bu-" Klein began

"Klein, we can meet up in the battle, we can merge parties then." Kirito interrupted him with an air of finality

"Fine." Klein said knowing Kirito would not change his mind, Kirito nodded to Klein and then proceeded to shuffle over to where to girl was sitting.

"You get left out?" Kirito asked bluntly

"I wasn't left out. I stayed out of it because everyone seemed to know each over already, speaking of which why come over here?" The girl asked

"I came over here because you were alone, and that seemed a bit unfair," Kirito said giving a warm smile "So, do you want to form a party with me?" He asked

The girl pursed her lips and she tilted her head slightly

"He just said we can't beat the boss by ourselves," Kirito pressed "So just for this fight?"

The girl gave a minute nod, so with a sigh of relief Kirito sent a party invite to the girl, without hesitation she pressed the button and she joined Kirito's party, after a bar appeared at the top left of Kirito's HUD, showing Kirito that the girls name was Asuna.

"Okay have you formed your parties?" Diavel asked after receiving a positive response he began to talk again only to be interrupted by a loud shout

"Just a second!" It rang out, everyone looked up to the top of the stands where a short man stood looking imposing as the sun shone behind him veiling his face in shadow, the man then crouched and proceeded to bound down the sets until he hit the bottom and skidded to a stop.

"Name's Kibaou," He said loudly gesturing to himself in emphasis "I wanna say something before we take on the boss." He said, Kirito leant forward intrigued by what the cactus haired man was going to say

"Some of you here need to apologise to the two-thousand people who have died so far!" He shouted pointing dramatically towards his audience, Kirito bowed his head a grim look on his face, he knew were this was going

"Kibaou, are you referring to the Beta-testers?" Diavel asked

"Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started, the Beta guys ditched us beginners, they all vanished. They took all of the good hunting spots and kept the easy quests to themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then they just ignored the rest of us." He gritted his teeth "I'm sure some of you here were Beta-testers!" He screamed "They should get on their knees and apologise, and give up all of the items and money they've hoarded!" He finished, at this Kirito started to reach for his blade and was touched to see Klein and his friends reaching for their own weapons.

"Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and thy shouldn't trust us!" Kibaou finished, blissfully unaware of the riot he was on the verge of starting

"May I speak?" Came a deep voice from the crowd, when no answer appeared to be forth coming he stepped out of the stands

"My name is Agil." He said, and the crowd took a good look at him, to be frank, he was massive, he stood tall above everyone else, with dark skin and well defined muscles he cut an intimidating figure

"Kibaou, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the Beta-testers didn't take care of them, many beginners died. That they should take responsibility, apologise and provide compensation. Correct?" Agil Asked

"Y-yeah." Kibaou said failing to realise were Agil was going with his speech, Agil dug into his pouch and pulled out a plain brown notebook

"You got this guide book didn't you? It was provided free at the item store." Agil said holding it so everyone could see

"Sure I did..." Kibaou said "Why?" He added curiously

"It was compiled from information given by the Beta-testers." Agil said

The crowd looked astonished, but a few including Kirito covered small smiles, Kibaou meanwhile gritted his teeth.

"Listen. Everyone had equal access to this information." He said rapping his knuckles against the book "And even still many players died." Agil said "Anyway, I thought the topic of discussion here was that we could learn from their deaths, and how they can help us defeat the boss, not try and persecute the Beta-testers." Agil said staring at Kibaou, daring him to question him. In response, Kibaou marched over to a seat and threw himself down folding his arms, Agil gently sat down as well.

"All right. Then can we resume?" He asked hoping that no more players were going to rant about their political views and get sent to the front lines. After receiving nods he began to speak again.

"The latest edition of the guidebook was just issued and it contains info on the boss.

At this everyone in the crowd started listening intently

"According to it, the boss's name is Ilfang the Kobold lord. He is guarded by assistants known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an Axe and Buckler. He has four bars of health and when the last one enters the red zone, he switches to a curved sword shaped weapon known as a Talwar. His attack pattern changes as well," With that Diavel snapped the book closed and the most of the crowd were shocked about how good the information was "This concludes the briefing. Lastly items will be distributed, EXP goes to the party that defeats the boss, whoever gets an item keeps it no ifs and no buts. Any objections?" Diavel asked calmly, after receiving none he smiled "okay then, we leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! I'll see you there!" He shouted

after he finished Kibaou approached Diavel

"No look her refused to sell." Kibaou said apologetically

"It's okay, I'll just station him at the rear fighting Sentinels. Diavel shrugged, as that ominous conversation was going on Asuna departed wordlessly, causing Kirito to turn and observe.

-0-

In a darkened alley Asuna was trying to eat a roll of bread, but couldn't muster the enthusiasm to eat it quickly.

"It's quite tasty, isn't it?" Kirito asked walking up to her "May I sit down?" When she failed to respond Kirito sat down next to her ad in response she shuffled away. Kirito reached into his own pouch and took out a bread roll and took a bite.

"Do you really think its good?" Asuna asked quietly

"Of course," Kirito said "I've been eating at least once daily since arriving in this town. I do change it up a little though." He said pulling a small brown tub out of his pouch

"Change it up?" Asuna asked curiously

"Try putting it on some bread." He suggested putting the tub down, she hesitatingly placed her finger on the nozzle and a blue glow enveloped her finger , she then smeared it over her bread leaving a trail behind.

"Cream?" She asked, as Kirito did the same the now empty vessel exploding into polygons, Asuna hesitated for a second before biting into the bread, suddenly she ravenously consumed the whole thing giving a sigh of relief.

"It's the reward for a quest called 'The Heifer Strikes Back' It's in the village behind this one, if you want to do it I'll show you the trick." Kirito suggested

"I didn't come to this town to eat good food." She said simply

"Then why did you?" Kirito asked curiously

"So I can still be me. I'd rather stay myself to the very end, then stay in hiding and rot away in an inn back in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I will not lose to this game... This world. No matter what" She said a hint of bitterness in her voice at her situation, Kirito nonchalantly tossed the last piece of bread into his mouth.

"I wouldn't want a party member dying on me... So at least don't die tomorrow" He said trying unsuccessfully to banish images of Coper from his mind

-0-

Let's go over this again." Kirito said "We leftovers are supposed to target the boss's helpers , the Ruin Kobold Sentinels." Kirito finished

"I know." Came Asuna's reply

"I'll use a sword skill to knock their pole axes up. The second I do, switch in." Kirito said

"Switch?" Asuna asked curiously

"Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?" Kirito asked shocked

"Yes." Asuna said simply and carried on walking as Kirito looked at her incredulously, she turned to him as he slumped and sighed.

-0-

Diavel slammed his sword into the ground, making a loud crack against the silent atmosphere of the tower.

"Listen up everyone. I only have one thing to say: Let's win!" Diavel said encouragingly the crowd tensed as he placed his hand on the door "Let's go." He said pushing it open revealing a darkened room, the clearing party stepped in hesitantly, suddenly the room lit up a myriad of colours and the Kobold Lord himself leapt into the midst of the assembled players.

A/N

Thank you for reading this chapter and once again thank you for the positive support, it is very nice for an author to get a note in his inbox that someone has somethinged your story and is great encouragement.

Once again thank you to Stevjej who still puts up with my persistent incorrect use of Commas and has to play hunt the punctuation every time I want to post.

But anyway next chapter in about two days time. (hopefully)


	4. Chapter 4

SAO 4

A/N

Hello welcome to this chapter, we have the conclusion to floor one in this chapter with more Asuna and everyone's favourite douchebag Kibaou...

Reviewer replies

MSAP Wiz- Thank you, it's always nice whenI receive confirmation that my work isn't in vain, the story will be very story driven. However I'm sure their can be some filler ;)

Sabrina-Luna-Potter- Why yes, the major characters are going to join Kirito's guild. And I agree I loved Silica in the anime and I hope I can further expand on her.

Render795- Thank you. Its really nice to her from people who are enjoying my Fanfiction and to be honest I'm shocked at how popular (In my opinion) Its becoming.  
>The next chapter should be out at the same time tomorrow.<p>

EquinoxWolf- thank you for the positiveness of the review and I agree about the brackets, I will go back and correct them soon.

Delightfully Sinful- Thank you and i'll remember that, wise words.

The Kobold Lord gave a mighty roar and his name and health bars appeared above his head, Kirito nodded to Klein who returned the action and focused back on the boss, with a bright blue glow the Ruin Kobold Sentries appeared the Sentries and their master then proceeded to rush the clearers.

"Commence attack!" Diavel roared bringing down his Copper Sword as the other players ran past him. With a clash of metal on metal the players and mobs met, at the front of them was Kibaou who activated a sword skill and met a Kobold Sentry head-first.

As the battle progressed, Diavel yelled orders and the other players acted upon them post haste. However, Kirito started to feel slightly annoyed, he was stuck killing the small fries while the big man himself was being teamed by the others, with a sigh he snapped out of his thoughts just in time to stop a Kobold from beheading him.

"Squads D, E and F, keep the Sentinels off us!" Diavel shouted

"Rodger!" Kirito shouted back, rushing forward and smiting a Sentry "Switch!" He shouted setting up the kill for Asuna.

"Number three!" She shouted readying a Sword Skill, Kirito was taken aback I thought she was a beginner. But she's incredible. She's so fast I can't even follow her blade. Kirito thought as Asuna unleashed a Linear destroying the monster. However, another Sentinel spawned and lunged at Kirito only to receive a sword to the face. Kirito went to pursue it but something caught his attention; Ilfang let out a mighty roar, his last health bar in the red zone. It threw its axe and buckler aside, the axe embedding itself in the marble floor.

"Looks like the information was right..." Kibaou said with relief

"Stand back!" Diavel ordered "I'll go!" And with that Diavel rushed forward to attack the boss

We were meant to surround it with the entire group. Kirito thought, Diavel turned his head slightly and smirked at Kirito, Diavel then began to activate a Sword Skill. The boss pulled out a blade but instead of a Talwar, the boss pulled out a-

"Diavel, that's not a Talwar, it's a No-Dachi!" Kirito shouted, but Diavel continued running. Seeing that Diavel wasn't going to stop he scanned the room "Dale, Dynamm, help me!" Kirito shouted, the two hesitated but nodded, they dashed to Kirito's side. Ilfang launched itself into the air, flying around the poles connecting the floor to the roof. With a mighty slam, the boss brought his blade down on Diavel and readied again to complete the deadly combo, but three weapons all met its body staggering it and breaking the combo.

"Klein, Dale and Dynamm attack it now Kunimittz, Issin and Harry, guard and get ready to switch if Klein and the others need to recover. Asuna, could you lend a hand as well?" Kirito asked. After receiving confirmation from all of the people he had just addressed he hurried to where Diavel was lying on the ground a sliver of HP remaining, with a chocked laugh he looked up at Kirito.

"I guess the jokes on me..." He wheezed

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked puzzled

"I tried to buy your Anneal Blade plus six through Kibaou and then I stationed you at the back fighting the Sentries. I thought you were my biggest rival." He said

"You wanted the last attack bonus, you're a Beta tester weren't you?" Kirito realised

"Yes, it's up to you now Kirito, from how you ordered that group, you've given orders before haven't you?" Diavel asked

"Yes." Came a simple reply

"Leave me now, my times up." Diavel said wearily

"You aren't going to die," Kirito said firmly "You still have HP remaining and I have a health potion, take it." Kirito said handing him the small red bottle, not pausing to see what Diavel would say next he ran forward to join his friends and allies.

"How's it going?" He asked Asuna

"Not so good, everyone other than Klein and… I think his name is Dale, are out of action." She said a glimmer of worry in her eyes, Kirito nodded

"Klein, Dale switch!" He yelled beckoning Asuna to follow him forward, his blade sung through the air as he brought it up to meet Ilfang's powerful strike.

"Asuna, attack!" He roared as Asuna unleashed a powerful linear on the boss's exposed torso, it shrieked in pain and batted Asuna away, tearing her cloak and revealing a girl around his age with long light brown hair.

"Klein, Dale push up!" Kirito shouted, they nodded and attacked swinging their weapons at the boss knocking up its blade Asuna and Kirito dashed forward attacking in unison. Ilfang shrieked again and with a horizontal slash it knocked Kirito and Asuna flying, backhanding Dale and Klein aside it rushed at Kirito and Asuna intent on finishing its prey. However it's No-Dachi met the axe blade of the dark skinned man who defended the Beta-testers before.

"We'll handle this guy while you guys are recovering." He said with a grin. Kirito nodded weakly and slowly hauled himself to his feet, as he feared the boss close to being beaten activated 'rage mode' a cliché in boss battles since the dawn of gaming, with its enhanced strength it was easily beating Agil and the others around.

"Asuna." He said poking her

"What?" She said blearily struggling to her feet

"We need to get back in the fight." Kirito said, she nodded weakly and picked up her Rapier from where it had rolled, they both struggled towards the boss, picking up speed as they ran.

"I'll knock his blade up, you attack, we'll catch him in a combo." Kirito suggested and gave a weak smile as she nodded determined, when they reached where Agil and the others were Kirito patted the tall man on the back.

"We've got it now." He told him, Agil nodded gratefully

"Retreat!" He commanded, the other players immediately followed his instructions and retreated back to the rear of the room.

Activating a Sword Skill, Kirito smashed Ilfang's blade up, and sending the huge creature stumbling. Pressing on, Asuna stabbed at the boss's stomach again, which was followed by a powerful slash from Kirito, the two weary players kept up the pressure until the boss had only a sliver of HP left. Kirito leapt forward bringing His Anneal Blade up in a smooth curve, tearing through digital flesh and sinew, until he had cut the beast in half. He landed on his feet and sheathed his blade as Ilfang exploded into polygons and the Sentinels scattered around the room joined their master in the Aether. After a few seconds the word Congratulation appeared were Ilfang stood, the crowd broke into cheering and excitement, after a few seconds the room dimmed down again and a window appeared before Kirito saying: You got the last attacking bonus! Bonus Item: Coat of Midnight.

"Why's it singular?" someone asked causing Kirito to smirk

"That was splendid swordsmanship," Agil commended him "Congratulations. The victory belongs to you" He said

"No..." Kibaou said quietly in the corner, "He offered up Diavel, so he could get the bonus item for himself."

"What?" Kirito asked nonplussed

"Of course!" Kibaou shouted "You knew that technique the boss used, after you let it get Diavel, if you told us about that upfront Diavel wouldn't have nearly died!" Kibaou continued

"Guys!" Diavel shouted trying to get the players attention

"He must be a Beta-tester!" Shouted one of the crowd "That's how he knew all of the boss's attack patterns, he knew but he didn't tell us!" He continued

"Other Beta-testers are here too right?" Kibaou shouted

"Kibaou!" Diavel shouted

"Come on out!" Shouted one of the crowd again, everyone glanced around as though Beta-testers would have some distinguishing markings.

This is bad. Kirito thought, Diavel won't be able to calm them down, and I can't let the other Beta-testers get caught up in this. He sighed Well it's been nice knowing you. And with that Kirito started to laugh, a high, almost insane kind of laugh that sent chills down the spines of everyone, the crowd parted to reveal Agil and Asuna trying to soothe the situation, but they all went silent to look at Kirito.

"A Beta-tester?" Kibaou asked warily

"I wish you would stop comparing me with those noobs." Kirito said coldly

"W-What?" Kibaou stuttered, Kirito began to walk forward heading towards the entrance to the second floor

"Most of the thousand Beta-testers were beginners, who didn't even know the basic mechanics of RPG's." The crowd split as he walked through them.

"You guys are better than they are." Kirito paused for a second to let that sink in "But I'm not like them. I made it higher than anyone else during the Beta-test, the reason I knew the boss's skills is because I fought monsters with Katana skill on floors high above this one, I know far more than any Info Broker." He said with a sinister smile, although he knew that Argo was going to give him hell for that remark.

"W-what… That's way worse than being a Beta-tester! You're cheating, a cheater!" He cried

"Yeah, a cheater!" The crowd shouted almost in unison

"A Beta-tester and a Cheater… A Beater!" someone in the crowd shouted

"A Beater…" Kirito smirked "Yeah, I like it." He said slightly ominously, many of the crowd were shocked that Kirito was accepting their yells so calmly "That's right…" Kirito continued "I am a Beater. From now on don't confuse me with the other testers." He ordered selecting his new item, instantly materialised and it flared out dramatically behind him. Kirito smirked at Kibaou and walked calmly towards the entrance.

"Wait." Asuna ordered as she ran up behind him, Kirito dug his hands into his pockets and stopped "You called my name when we were fighting." Asuna said in a calm tone

"Sorry." Kirito said "Did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"Where did you learn it?" Asuna demanded, Kirito paused for a second

"You can see another HP gauge, below yours, around here, right?" He said pointing to the top left of her vision "Isn't something written next to it?"

"Kirito. Is that your name?" She asked

"Yeah." Kirito said

"Oh it's been there all this time!" She said with a smile, Kirito covered a smile at her reaction

"You'll be really strong. So if someone you trusts ever invites you to join a guild, don't turn them down. There's a big limit to how much you can do as a solo player."

"What about you?" She asked him, Kirito smiled and opened his menu and scrolled through and dissolved the party he was in.

"So long, Klein" thought to himself as he walked up the stairs and onto the second floor.

"Kirito!" Klein shouted causing him to spin around to see Klein and the rest of his friends ran towards him

"Klein?" Kirito asked him, surprised that someone had followed him

"Yeah."

"Why are you here?" Kirito asked getting slightly irked that Klein was so dim

"To catch up with you, idiot." Kirito was going to retort but opted for a nicer response

"But I'm a Beater." He protested weakly

"Yeah… Your point is?"

"But travelling with me will practically be social suicide."

"What's your point?" Klein asked again

"You're not going to leave me alone are you?" Kirito asked

"No. Oh yeah, that looks like a hobo coat."

"Klein... Shut up." Kirito said exasperatedly

"Yeah, anyway where are we headed?" Klein asked, to which Kirito pointed to a huge mountain looming in the background.

"We're going to confusticate some dwarves?" Klein asked grinning slightly

"No, we're going to Urbus, the largest town on the second floor." Kirito said, deliberately ignoring Klein's idiocy

"So the mountain?" Klein asked trying to put on a serious face

"The towns in the mountain, it's hollowed out." Kirito explained

"Dwarves?" Klein asked

"Stop it with the freaking dwarves." Kirito said finally raising his voice

"Fine, but anyway what was that speech about back in the boss room?"

"I didn't want the other Beta-testers getting brought down as well." Kirito said not looking at him, Klein shrugged

"So why do you want to come with me?" Kirito asked

"You're our friend Kirito, we're not going to give up on you for being a Beta-tester."

"Thank you Klein." Kirito said slightly touched by his friend's sentiment

"It's okay." And they walked towards the mountain that loomed on the horizon.

A/N

Short chapter I know, but this seemed like a good place to end it. I deviated quite significantly with Diavel/Diabel whatever you want to call him not dying, what I'm saying is please don't throw rocks through my window.

Anyway once again thanks to Stevjej, my slightly irritating Beta reader who insists that I am ill... (this is Stevjej, the beta-reader! And he _is_ ill! He has got Ebola or something! Okay I'll go now…)

But next chapter in may be quite a while as I'm going home soon and I have a social life sort of...

So anyway see ya later.


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